I Adore You
by like a falling star
Summary: A snippet on the development of Ron and Hermione's relationship. RHr, quite obviously.


Author's Note: Little snippets of fic ideas keep clustering around me lately. I open new documents to try and write them all but there isn't enough time. There never is enough time. Anyway, this is a quirky one-shot on Ron and Hermione's relationship at a more comfortable level, after they've gotten past Krum . And I must say, I loved writing this. Most of it, anyway. I simply adore fluff.  
  
I Adore You  
  
By like a falling star  
  
It was a week before Christmas, and the Gryffindor Common Room was alight with tiny, flickering points of light, bright orange flames that danced and crackled merrily in the air without candles or wicks.  
  
"Finite Incantatem." Hermione said, waving her wand dismissively at the flames, and immediately scurried over to the table to check with Charms: All you never wanted to know. With a mild whoosh the flames vanished, leaving the Gryffindor Common Room awash in the warm golden glow that emanated from the fireplace.  
  
Several first-years looked up, apparently impressed.  
  
Ron looked up from the plush sofa he'd been sprawled on the entire evening, reading Quidditch Through The Ages (for about the thirtieth time, mind, complained Hermione), and rolled his eyes. "Studying for the NEWTs already, Hermione?"  
  
Hermione restrained the urge to roll her eyes back at him. "We only have four months left, Ron." She replied huffily. "And I'm not even close to being prepared!" She sounded nearly hysterical at the very idea. "And neither are you," she added as an afterthought. "You really ought to get started, you know. Professor McGonagall said-"  
  
"That there's a Yule Ball coming up; want to go?" Ron cut in smoothly.  
  
Hermione frowned, momentarily forgetting the upcoming NEWTs. "Well, yes, but not when you ask me like that. Honestly, Ron, your lack of romance amazes me sometimes."  
  
In a split second Ron had conjured up a pink tulip; he tossed it to Hermione who caught it. "There, m' lady, satisfied?"  
  
"Ron, you git. Flowers are meant to be presented. Not hurled. You're insufferable, really."  
  
"Then why do you go out with me?" Ron challenged, smirking in a way that Hermione found incredibly annoying and endearing all at once.  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Because I happen to find thick-headed prats extremely interesting."  
  
Ron sat up suddenly. "Do you?"  
  
"Well, yes. And I happen to have an intense liking for one of them." Hermione said, carefully avoiding Ron's gaze as she swished her wand around experimentally, pretending to be absorbed in perfecting a particularly complicated spell.  
  
Ron snapped his book shut and turned around in his seat, leaning across the back of the sofa to watch Hermione as his knees pressed into the crimson velvet. "Do you?"  
  
Hermione paused in the midst of her wand-waving, lifted her eyebrows delicately and fixed him with a practised stare, though the mirth sparkling in her eyes belied her serious countenance. "Are you questioning me?"  
  
Ron grinned at her, and decided to play along. "Certainly not, Miss Granger. Who would ever entertain the thought of questioning - of contradicting - Hogwarts's resident brain?"  
  
The corners of Hermione's mouth lifted into a tiny smile. "I'm glad we've cleared that up."  
  
"Well, in that case, Miss Granger, I must say, I believe I quite like you as well."  
  
Hermione contemplated rebutting him with a 'Who ever said I was referring to you?' but decided against it. She loved-liked-loved-liked-Oh-for- goodness-sake-loved Ron, and she didn't care who knew it. "I really like you."  
  
Seamus's head popped up suddenly from behind 101 Ways to Snag a Witch [Read: Bitch], sporting an impish smile. He glanced over at Lavender, who happened to be glancing at him at the same time and, meeting each other's eyes, they coloured and turned away, smiling.  
  
"I'm stuck on you."  
  
A couple of second-year girls began giggling and nudging each other playfully. Ginny sighed wistfully.  
  
"I'm nutters over you."  
  
"I'm wild about you."  
  
"I'm mad about you."  
  
"I really fancy you." Ron's ears were a brilliant red to match his hair and the sofa as he spoke.  
  
"I ."  
  
None of them had said it yet. They were getting close to it, though. Despite the fact that Hermione's brain about covered half the thesaurus there were no other words to be found and it would have to come out sooner or later.  
  
"I adore you."  
  
"I dig you. A lot."  
  
"Oh, Ron." Hermione smiled at him as she slowly pocketed her wand and walked towards him, wondering vaguely where he had picked up such an American term.  
  
"I love you, Hermione."  
  
There was utter stillness for a moment as Hermione rejoiced silently and Ron contemplated clocking his head with a really, really thick book (he had a fleeting thought that this would be the first time ever that Hogwarts: A History might have come to good use), and then the rest of Gryffindor decided to pretend not to be eavesdropping; Colin clicked off his camera and started whistling rather tunelessly, Ginny dropped her eyes and went back to reading her book (White Oleander, if anyone's interested), Seamus flipped a few pages of his book and began studying it with a scholarly intensity, Parvati stared at the fireplace, trying to think of something to occupy herself with, and the second-year girls began furiously scribbling at their homework and dipping their quills most viciously into the inkpots. Not that Ron or Hermione would have noticed anyway.  
  
"I love you too, Ron. I really do."  
  
*  
  
Author's Note: And. the end, because I seemed to have hit writer's block in the midst of it. Oh, dear. That was the lamest ending I've ever written. Anyway, am off to bed now. It's five minutes to eleven and I've still got to finish packing for tomorrow. Will be away for four days, in Malaysia, but I'll be back soon (hopefully) with new fics. Oh, and one more thing you really, really need to know: I adore reviews. That's a major hint if I ever saw one. 


End file.
